Jan 24, 06:58pm

On the first anniversary of its debut live outing, Qrated will initiate its latest and biggest edition of Kerplunk so far. The line-up of the fourth edition, in an unsurprising move, is dominated by the bands from North East, a persistent 'ArtEast approach' adopted by the entity. Chennai-based trio Skrat and Cochin's When Chai Met Toast are the only two representatives from the South.

Spread across four days, the opening act - Assam's progressive metal outfit Silver Tears - will also be the only act to perform on Day One. Kerplunk will then fly to Guwahati for the execution of the next three days. The second day's line-up features heavy metallers David Angu And The Band, indie rock band Yesterdrive and a superheavy Blues group comprising the heavyweights of the late 80s and 90s music scene called Spreading Roots.

Full Line-up of Kerplunk Edition 4:

The founder of Qrated, lawyer Kaushik Barua says, "There's a certain barricade between North East and the rest of the country, in terms of culture exchange, that I hope to bring down with these initiatives. And these are the early steps towards that goal." Barua, who heads a 16-member strong team at Qrated, emphasises further, "but we are, primarily, a pro-underground sub-culture scene, and the effort is to put most of these North Eastern bands on a platform where they can be heard."

What began as monthly house gigs in New Delhi during college evolved into an endearing practice for Barua that escalated with time. Qrated began as a record label but the team soon realised this would not be enough to promote the artists. "Hence, we entered the live gig scene," added the lawyer. No Diggity, Qrated's another live initiative - that caters mainly to the hip-hop and rap community - began its experimentation last year.

A consistent set of live initiatives followed in 2017, leading to the birth of the first edition of Kerplunk, seven months after Qrated's first live effort ever. "We had Geff and Elephant In The Elevator for our first organised gig. The team, as a whole, has passionately believed and promoted the cause of 'underground' scene. Qrated experienced a few hiccups that resulted into refunding the festival fee to some of the fans as the fourth edition, originally planned for December, had to be postponed for reasons beyond control. The original line-up for the fourth edition feautured Girish And The Chronicles too.

Kerpunk's fourth edition will be held as part of a carnival. The entry fee, Rs. 50, will not even reach Qrated's account. "We are a bunch of passionate people, inspired from folks like David Koch and learning from others experiences, who would happily pay from pockets to sustain what we have proudly begun," added Barua. The entity, however, has tied up with local brands and the students union for support in terms of basic commercials and production respectively. "There is, indeed, something cool about the sub-culture, however, people are massively mistaken about the live music scene in the North East. I remember attending a Soulmate gig with 1700 people around me, whereas only 350 fans turned up for Veil of Maya the other day. I am not pointing at one reason or another, but the 'live music' culture itself is shrinking," laments Barua, who continues to remain hopeful that the tide will turn.

The founder assures the further editions will focus widely on the underground scene, and bring forth the under-appreciated, lesser heard acts from the region. On the record label front, Qrated has tied up with a couple of rappers and producers and the focus continues to remain on studio plus live music association thus acting as an artist management force too. On the nature of curation for the fourth edition, "There is not a particular pattern or approach that we followed for finalising the line-up, apart from the genres that reflect Kerplunk's ideology - rock and metal music. Beyond that, we continued with our original purpose behind the inception of our live initiatives - exploring the underground sounds from the North East," concludes Barua.